X: 1
T:Paddy O'Rafferty
C:Trad.
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:D |:dff cee|def gfe|dff cee|dfe dBA| dff cee|def gfe|faf gfe|1 dfe dBA:|2 dfe dcB|| |:~A3 ~B3|gfe fdB|AFA B2c|dfe dcB| ~A3 ~B3|efe efg|faf gfe|1 dfe dcB:|2 dfe dBA|| |:fAA eAA|def gfe|fAA eAA|dfe dBA| fAA eAA|def gfe|faf gfe|dfe dBA:| </pre>
The lines starting with an uppercase letter and a colon are part of the header and describe Index, Title, Composer, Meter, default note Length, and Key. The remaining lines describe the notes. A number after a note multiplies the duration (default 1/8 for 6/8 time, or as specified in the
L: field).
Barlines are specified with the vertical bar |, while repeats and first and second endings are signified with |: (forward repeat), :| (backward repeat), |1 and :|2 respectively.
In Irish music, the ~ denotes an ornament known as a turn, the playing of which varies depending on the instrument used.
The above abc setting has been set to staff notation.
[History_of_ABC]:  History of ABC December 1993 abcmtex released - the first application for engraving abc February 1996 abc2ps released - allowing direct creation of PostScript, without the intermediate steps of MusicTeX/TeX January 1997 v1.6.1 of abcmtex released - believed to be the version on which the first version of the ABC standard is based March 1998 abcm2ps announced based on abc2ps source but adding multi-voice and multi-staff capability April 1999 anouncement of plans of updated ABC standard May 2000 v1.7.6 of the ABC Standard released as a draft August 2003 v2.0 of the ABC Standard released as a draft[Collaborative_abc]:  Collaborative abc
A new direction for abc notation is in collaborative editing and composing environments. There are several examples of Wikis that have been adapted to display abc in staff notation.
 AbcWiki, a PHP plug-in implementation running on phpWiki. MusicWiki, a Python plugin implementation for MoinMoin. AbcMusic for displaying abc notation in PmWiki. abc plugin for displaying abc notation in DokuWiki.Traditional Music Wiki A collaborative source for traditional music using a tailored version of the AbcMusic plugin.[External_links]:  External linksThe official abc musical notation home pageJohn Chamber's ABC Tune finderAbc Tutorial by Steve MansfieldABC Convert-A-MaticOn-Line ABC EditorABC Project at SourceForgeABC Plus Project at SourceForge